Can VA and/or VMRF employees participate in VMRF administered research projects as research subjects?
We do not wish to support a potential appearance of coercion of employees into a study. In light of the above, VMRF discourages VA and VMRF employees’ enrollment into VMRF administered studies. As an exception, VMRF will allow the employee to receive reimbursement for out of pocket expenses which are written into the compensations section of the IRB protocol and which must be available for all study participants. In other words, VA and VMRF employees who wish to volunteer for participation in a clinical study can only be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses such as transportation, meals, etc which cannot include “compensation for time or inconvenience”. VMRF patient compensation forms include a checkbox to verify that no employee may receive compensation. Please be advised that VMRF will not tolerate coercion of employees into participation in clinical studies. Violations thereof must be immediately reported to the VMRF Human Resources department and the UCSD/VA/VMRF IRB.
